Jesse's transformation

[newsguyatl]

some of you may remember my jesse, the little siamese i adopted in june of this year.

was never sure of his exact breed, though the shelter i adopted him called him a chocolate point siamese. some of you familiar will know that the chocolate point siamese have the whiter coat in spots except for their points where they are "chocolate" brown covered... he was so white, in fact, the shelter had named him, "snowball" -- original, i know ;-)



here are some early pics of him:




and about a month or so ago:




within the last month though, i noticed a ton of shedding on his part, unusual for him because he has no undercoat. and in the last three weeks, give or take, i've noticed he's almost completely changed colors -- the white fur, now an almond color, resembling a seal point siamese instead:




my question is this... is he growing into what will be his adult color? or is this a seasonal thing, with this darker coat being his "winter coat" so to speak?



he's cute either way, but i definitely like the white fur better than this almond color that's coming in...


thanks in advance...

[friesianrider]

1. Well...

We just lost our Buffy kitty recently (she was born to a stray barn cat momma, but Daddy was surely a part Siamese), and she started out very light in color like your first set of photos, and then got darker as she got older. I think most Siamese get darker as they age.

If you ask me, I think Jesse looks much nicer with the darker color, but that's just me :) Either way, you got an absolutely *stunning* kitty! He looks very content and is lucky to have you! How does he like his leash by the way? I'm way too much of a sissy to take my kitties out on a leash - I'd be afraid they'd somehow slip out of it and run away!

Here's my Buffy, before she went to kitty heaven:

[newsguyatl]

5. thanks!

and great pic, buffy was stunning...

jesse likes the harness a lot -- i haven't been taking him out as i should be lately, but he enjoys it immensly... i guess i got really lucky, after just a little bit of hesitation at first, he took it up really fast... his tail sticks straight up in the air everytime we go out now...

he's gotten quite good at leading ME.

[demnan]

2. Siamese naturally get darker with age

Look at some early pictures of Pad Thai, who I got at 5 months old. He barely even had facial markings at that time. His papers (that I got from the friend I got him from) declared him a blue point Siamese. As he's aged I realized he developed his true color, which is a lilac point Siamese. I couldn't find some really really early pictures of him on this computer. I don't thing they were very good ones because my record starts with my first decent digital camera in 1999. (Got Paddy in '98)









And later, now:







Siamese develop color around the lower back area - like the saddle area. See your Jesse is very true to form. Now what is he about a year and half maybe two years old? Pad Thai was a "late bloomer" - he was a very pale cat and the pictures don't begin to show the difference in his appearance then than now. I thought he had "blossomed"

[newsguyatl]

6. that pad thai...

what a looker.. now and then :hi:

[BrklynLiberal]

3. Don't know anything about the evolution of kitty coloring..but Jesse is

just getting handsomer all the time.
I assume he and Nikko are still best buddying it up all the time. They are quite a pair now, considering the shaky start they had.
Their intro thread was one of the best threads ever.

[newsguyatl]

7. thanks brklynliberal!

and yes, they're still best buds... notice in that pic i posted of jesse, that's nikko under the armoir there who he's playing with...


inseparable:


jesse still rules the roost tho.

[okasha]

4. Jesse is a handsome kitty.

Yes, that's his adult color, and he does look like a seal point. Siamese (and some Siamese crosses) are almost pure white as newborns, then the points come in as they become kittens and young cats, with the body color the last to develop.

[newsguyatl]

8. ugh, ok thanks

i was afraid of that...

thanks for the info.

[demnan]

9. Hes a very pretty fella!

He just isn't a kitten anymore.

One of the cutiest Siamese cats I ever saw was at the vets. The little girl was about 20 years old and very dark. She was just adorable so good on her leash. Look at the many happy years we have to look forward to with our pets!

[Eurobabe]

10. Awww, he is SO adorable!!

They get big too quickly, eh?

[Beaverhausen]

11. Oh...sniff...they grow so fast

He is still very handsome. Good to finally see some new pics of your cute boys!

[MissHoneychurch]

12. he grew up to an handsome guy

beautiful.

what is with Jesse's peeing problem?

[newsguyatl]

13. thanks!

jesse hasn't peed on the bed (or sink) for about 2 months now, i'm happy to report.

lasted for about 5 weeks or so, and he just stopped.

thinking it was a newness/youth thing.

thanks for asking :hi:


((now he's just in to EVERYthing!!!))

[eridani]

14. A Siamese cat is basically a black (or other colored) cat

One of the enzymes in their melanin synthesis pathways is mutated to be temperature sensitive, that is, higher temperatures cause it to come apart so it functions only at lower temperatures. Kittens tend to be more white because they have higher body temperatures than adults, and in adults the darkest areas of fur (tail, paws, nose) are the coldest.